The move ends the long-running debate over who would be first to make a major investment in ‘next-generation access’ (NGA) in the UK. BT, which has already been trialling fibre to the home (FTTH) at a new development in Ebbsfleet, Kent, has said the new programme will cost £1.5bn. It has also warned that the new services are likely to be more expensive at the wholesale level than its existing copper-based connectivity.

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:

Please see my CEO Blog, where I comment on BT’s announcement.  The views of key industry analysts quoted in this article are very insightful and well worth reading.

According to BT, the programme will see “as many as 10 million homes” hooked up to fibre-based broadband by 2012. However, the company has said the scheme depends on Ofcom establishing a new regulatory framework.

BT’s fibre rollout will be a mix of FTTH and fibre to the cabinet (FTTC), with the former taking place at new-build developments such as Ebbsfleet and the Olympic Village, and the latter being used primarily for existing residential developments. Homes benefiting from FTTH will get top speeds of up to 100Mbps, while those using a copper connection to their fibre-equipped street cabinet will get speeds of up to 40Mbps. BT said this will make it possible for households to run multiple high-bandwidth applications, such as high-definition TV, simultaneously.

Analysts were quick to respond to Tuesday’s announcement.

Dean Bubley, of Disruptive Analysis, noted that the £1.5bn figure was around a tenth of the amount many were claiming would need to be invested in a nationwide fibre deployment. “To me, this compromise looks like a fairly prudent risk-management approach on BT’s part, given the current economic situation,” he wrote on his blog. “[It is] sufficiently aggressive to catalyse some regulatory change — and maintain clear water between fixed and mobile broadband — but not large enough to act as a boat anchor on the company as the UK [economy] falters.”

Bubley also said BT’s move would give it the backhaul infrastructure to roll out mobile WiMax in the UK, should it gain spectrum in the upcoming 2.6GHz auction.

JupiterResearch’s Ian Fogg also noted the “suspiciously small sum” of £1.5bn. “I suspect the higher wholesale prices that BT plans for fibre, compared with DSL, will slow the uptake of fibre and so help BT save [capital expenditure],” he wrote on his blog.

“This is a game changer for the UK broadband market,” wrote Fogg. “The larger ISPs that have unbundled local loop networks (O2, Sky, Carphone Warehouse, Be, Tiscali) suddenly face the prospect of their copper DSL services becoming obsolete in just a few years. The small, niche ISPs that have struggled to remain in business in the face of higher speeds and thin margins offered by the [unbundled local loop] players, now have a lifeline with BT’s proposal to wholesale fibre.”

Extract from an article originally published in CRN magazine, 28th April 2008

To hear John Chambers tell it, there’s a new network in town. As the chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems geared up for the Cisco Partner Summit 2008 in Honolulu, he crafted a message that he hopes will inspire partners to follow him down a new path, on a course that he says could catapult the vendor and its channel to the forefront of the IT industry.

That path? Collaboration fuelled by intelligent networking via online Web 2.0 tools and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

Collaboration which combines technologies such as VoIP, unified messaging, instant messaging, IP video, presence, mobility, SaaS and Web tools like blogs and wikis that enable customers to more easily communicate with each other is the linchpin of Cisco’s strategy.

Collaboration marks the next phase of the Internet and will drive improvements in productivity for the next decade, particularly as business users latch onto social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies previously thought solely to be the domain of kids, Chambers said.

“It’s actually accelerated now, because a lot of the basic concepts in collaboration are now taking off”, Chambers said. “The network will probably enable the next major wave of IT spending as well as communication spending. So the role of the network has changed: It’s changed from being infrastructure, primarily a box mentality, to an architecture approach that provides business solutions, and as such, we at Cisco have to change and so do our channel partners”.

Ian Roberts’ comment on this article:

When John Chambers speaks, the world listens.  I am not saying we are visionaries, but, this has been our message for the last two years ;o)

Apple announced recently that it would not block third party developers from creating VoIP over Wi-Fi solutions on the iPhone and iPod Touch. However, they noted that the solutions have to work over Wi-Fi and not through the cellular network. This may make sense to VoIP developers anyway because the bandwidth limitations of the cell network make it difficult to develop VoIP on that platform.

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:

Please see my CEO blog, where I pose the question, “What about WiFi?” in relation to the technology battle for next generation mobile networks. 

Extract from an article originally published in Business Week 28th January 2008

The massive increase in bandwidth-heavy online TV and video content being downloaded by UK broadband users has raised questions about whether current networks can cope and who should pay for any upgrades.

Specifically the recent surge of interest in the BBC’s iPlayer online on-demand TV service raised this issue following a massive 3.5 million programmes being streamed or downloaded in the two weeks following its marketing launch alone.

And as more of these bandwidth-heavy content services — such as the multi-broadcaster Kangaroo media player — are launched and more people use them, the result could potentially be gridlock on broadband networks as bandwidth is used up.

But if this is going to be a bandwidth problem does the responsibility to fund network upgrades to cope with it lie with the internet service providers (ISPs) or the content providers?

Tiscali, which also owns Pipex, has been the most vocal ISP on this subject and has stated in the past it believes content providers such as the BBC should foot the bill for upgrading networks to cope with the content they’re now churning out.

Tiscali claims that both the streaming and download versions of the BBC’s iPlayer can create problems on its network.

Last August a Tiscali spokeswoman told silicon.com: “We don’t believe that the potential for it to cause congestion is being properly recognised and acknowledged.”

Tiscali employs traffic shaping on its network with bandwidth for large packets of data restricted at peak times to ensure every customer has a similar service.

This means services such as iPlayer or Channel 4’s 4OD can be slowed (but not interrupted) as available bandwidth is reduced.

Despite its comments, Tiscali says it would not target iPlayer content for traffic shaping — possibly as it can’t distinguish iPlayer content from other BBC traffic — but the issue is something the company is concerned about.

Speaking to silicon.com this week, a Tiscali spokeswoman said: “If the content providers don’t come to the table on this, the cost will be solely on the end user. It is an issue and we want to talk about it.”

Industry regulator Ofcom is also aware of the potential looming conflict and told silicon.com broadband traffic prioritisation is likely to be necessary in the near future as different kinds of traffic such as voice, video and data continue to proliferate.  Ofcom suggests the next generation of broadband networks may require types of new business models or commercial relationships to fund them.

This could see content providers paying for the delivery of services as well as customers paying to receive them — much like the way retailers and customers pay to use credit card services.

With Ofcom saying content provider business models may need to change in the future, there is the very real possibility that the BBC et al may one day have to put their hands in their pockets if home internet users are to continue enjoying shows such as Top Gear online.

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:

One of the great hidden issues in residential broadband is that of contention, i.e. how many other users share the same bandwidth with each other.  It is only by massively reselling (should that be overselling?) the same bandwidth that consumers pay such low prices for high headline level services. 

That model has never worked for the enterprise market because business understands this issue and has the requirement to manage wholly owned bandwidth.  This is why dedicated business connections are so much more expensive than contended consumer and SOHO services.

The contended consumer networks can manage this ‘sleight of hand’ whilst consumers were light users of the network.  Mass adoption of heavy usage technologies such as video streaming however, changes all that and the fallout could be very substantial.

Virgin and BT who own their own networks will figure a way through the issue, the incumbents always do, but companies that rely on them are going to be massively exposed, hence why the other ISP’s are starting to squeal.  

Extract from an article published by VoIPinBusiness.co.uk on 7 Jan 2008

Skype’s general manager of mobile and hardware devices Gareth O’Loughlin says “with the introduction of new mass-market devices at CES that support Skype, millions of people around the world will now be able to leave the desk behind, put Skype in their pocket and take their conversations with them.” 

These products include:

3 Skypephone – Introduced together with mobile operator 3, a new affordable mass market 3G wireless handset that lets users make Skype-to-Skype calls and send Skype instant messages from their mobile phone to other Skype users. The 3 Skypephone is available in the UK, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Sweden, and will soon be available in Hong Kong.

Intel-based Mobile Internet Devices – Mobile users will be able to make Skype voice and video calls and send instant messages on the move, while harnessing the PC-like performance of Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) based on Intel low-power processors and chipsets. This new category of small mobile consumer devices with WiMAX and WiFi capabilities will enable free Skype-to-Skype voice and video calls and cheap SkypeOut calls to be made on open wireless networks.

Nokia N810 Internet Tablet – A pocket-sized WiFi device with a slide-out keyboard which frees Skype users from their desktops, allowing Skype-to-Skype conversations and SkypeOut calls to take place in any WiFi connection, including thousands of Boingo Wireless and Earthlink WiFi hotspot locations.

mylo™ Communicator – Skype comes pre-installed on Sony’s mylo personal communicator, COM-2, enabling users to call or instant message any other Skype user for free over an open WiFi connection. Users of the mylo can also make cheap SkypeOut calls and receive SkypeIn calls.

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:

Until now, the mobile operators have blocked Internet calls through the likes of Skype.  3Mobile’s willingness to break ranks maybe significant if it doesn’t get squashed or withdrawn.  Added together with pico/femto cell technology, this is the type of development where an intelligent WiMAX broadband connection into the enterprise could lay the foundation for a single handset for the office and traditional mobile telephony with best of breed function in both environments.  Now then, who could be providing intelligent wireless broadband pipes to enterprise?

Extract from a BBC News Website item published 1 January 2008 

But what will be making the headlines over the next 12 months?

The BBC News website gives its predictions for technologies that could become big in 2008.

1. The Web to Go
2. WiMAX
3. Mobile VoIP

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments: 

I totally agree with these Hot 3 from BBC News. As always the devil is in the detail, and I have explored this in individual postings.

Extract from a BBC News Website item published 1 January 2008.

VoIP is a technology that allows users to make cheap phone calls over the internet. Although some firms such as Jajah and Truphone have offered VoIP on mobiles the technology is still relatively nascent.  However, 2008 could be the year the technology takes off. 

Towards the end of 2007, network operator 3 launched a Skype phone that allows users to make calls using the service, already popular for making calls from PCs.

Handset-maker Nokia also offers four phones with the ability to use the technology. “We plan to add VoIP enabled devices to the existing range,” said Mark Squires of the firm.

But even with the backing of a heavyweight such as Nokia, not everyone is convinced that 2008 will be the year of mobile VoIP.  Said Mike Roberts of analysts Informa Media and Telecoms. “It’s very disruptitive, but could be a slow burn”

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:

It will be a slow burn, but the prize is enormous, and we have firmly set our sights on being an enabling network for Enterprise Mobile VoIP.  WiMAX is the foundation for that capability, then the world gets really very interesting. 

Extract from a BBC News Website item originally published 1 January 2008.

Wimax is a wireless technology that can deliver high speed broadband over long distances. It is already big in the US with companies such as Sprint and Intel backing the technology. Some areas of the developed world, such as Abuja in Nigeria, are also trialling the technology.

However, according to analyst Mike Roberts of research firm Informa Media and Telecoms, it has never taken off in Europe. But, he said, that could all change in 2008. “Next year could be the first year that we see some of the major deployments of Wimax in Europe,” he said.

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:

2008 is definitely the year for WiMAX deployments, but let’s be clear why there have been no UK WiMAX deployments so far (even when it has been claimed). It is simply that despite all the manufacturers hype, the technology just hasn’t been ready to deploy until now. However, watch this space for our own announcements on WiMAX early this year.

Extract from a BBC News Wedsite item originally published 1 January 2008.

One of the biggest drawbacks of web applications is that they can only be used when there is an internet connection.

Although mobile working is becoming increasingly common, ubiquitous connectivity is still a long way off. But there are tools that are beginning to blur the online and offline worlds. Over the last 12 months a number of technologies have emerged that could have a significant impact on the way people use the web.

Search giant Google announced its Gears application whilst Adobe launched Air and Microsoft released Silverlight. All the technologies have the ability to take rich web content and make some of it available offline.

For example Adobe has shown off an Ebay desktop application built using Air that would allow users to do much of the legwork required in setting up auctions offline. The next time the user connects to the internet the listing would be posted to the website.

Silverlight offers the reverse - the ability to build desktop applications and allow them to run in a web browser.

Google Gears does not allow the creation of new applications but does allow web applications to be taken offline. For example, the developers of the free online office package Zoho use Gears to allow users to use their applications in a similar way to a normal desktop office program.

2008 should see more examples of applications built with or using one of the three tools to make a truly seamless computing experience.

On-Communications CEO, Ian Roberts comments:

Web2.0 is going to change everything. Momentum has been building for some time. It has been years since Silicon Valley has invested in traditional software companies, and all the high growth software businesses are delivering their technology in the ‘Software as a Service’ format, not the traditional Client Server Model.

Google, Salesforce and the UK’s Youmanage are leading the world in Web2.0 services. Our own business model supports Web2.0 services as companies need symmetrical broadband and Internet connections to make full use of Web2.0 services. We are almost exclusively a Web2.0 company in terms of our own IT. No desktops, no servers, just high speed wireless Internet access into and within the office via laptops.